TROY -- While Rensselaer County increased its support for Hudson Valley Community College by $100,000, and the 2013-14 budget is 3.4 percent less than last year, the cash-strapped institution is still facing a fiscal crisis.

The County Legislature passed the $110.1 million budget by 15-2 on Tuesday night, approving a $40 per semester tuition increase and bumping the county's annual contribution up to $3.4 million. The former equates to an increase of $100,000 that follows pressure from the money-strapped community college.

When the county chargeback formula -- the amount students' home counties have to pay a community college -- was changed by the state in September 2012, HVCC was left facing an increasing budget shortfall, to the tune of $7.5 million, as the new formula is phased in over the following five years.

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"The college simply cannot sustain a $7.5 million cut without considering the elimination of academic programs, additional faculty and staff jobs, and services to our students and the community," said HVCC President Andrew J. Matonak.

The formula change hit at a time when the college is experiencing reduced enrollment. During the 2010 fall semester, the college enrolled 9,908 full-time equivalent students, but by this past fall semester, enrollment of full-time equivalent students had dropped to 9,190.

Adjusting to the new reality, this year's budget is 3.4 percent less than the 2012-13 budget. The college has reduced its costs by cutting some part-time employees, leaving 89 open positions vacant while hiring adjunct instructors, and cutting funding for scheduled maintenance. Yet it has not gone far enough, said Rensselaer County Executive Kathleen Jimino.

"We've been working with the college to create a five-year plan that will allow us to get our sponsor contribution to increase," said Jimino. "At the same time, we're expecting the college will do more to reign in their costs so that the net effect on our taxpayers is not going to be a $2.9 million increase as they were looking for earlier this year."

County Legislator Peter Grimm said that fiscal troubles at Hudson Valley are "not secret," but that the college has made "an honest attempt to do what they can." He added: "We are in difficult situation regarding the chargebacks and we know there are going to have to be a lot of conversations between the sponsor and the community college down the road."